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The Crush It Report – Volume 10

December 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Note from the Founders

Creating Lasting New Year’s Resolutions

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas vacation, and for those of you who are still on vacation I hope you are relaxing and recharging for a prosperous new year.

Take Advantage of Your Break

For the rest of us, the week after Christmas is an interesting time.  Corporate offices are often half full and the unfortunate employees stuck inside usually sit idly watching the clock, counting down the minutes until freedom.  Not much gets done, and even less is planned for the future.

This is your break from business...take advantage.

In the vending services business, this week is also traditionally slow.  Schools are out, offices are half staffed, and gyms are not at peak occupancy.  The only locations that are at full capacity are hospitals.  Since you will have less to do this week, it is a great time to take a break from normal business, and start to think about how your everyday tasks can be optimized, and the time spent on them reduced.

For the entrepreneur and small business owner, the week after Christmas is an important time to reflect, strategize, and optimize.  It is easy to get bogged down “working in your business” instead of “working on your business”, especially during the holidays when business tasks and family responsibilities are often stacked together.

What does “working in your business” mean?

It means getting caught up doing the day-to-day tasks that every business needs done.  In vending, that means ordering products, sorting products, loading them, and organizing books.  All the general tasks associated with running a route.  While these tasks are essential to the success of your business, they are not going to help it grow.

“Working on your business” is the work you do that will help your business grow.

Are there tasks that without fail end up taking you hours every week?  These tasks need to be examined and if possible improved.  If the cumulative changes you make save just two hours a week, in the coming year you will have an extra 4 days!

Cheers to a New Year!

How To Optimize Your Business

Think about ways to systematize or batch your repetitive tasks.  If email is one of your most consuming time vampires, try to make a point of only checking a couple of times a day, but when you do check make sure to answer everything.  Once you start responding to emails it is easy to respond to the next one, and the next one, until you are finished.  

It is much slower to continuously watch your browser and answer every message that comes in. Thinking about email during the day will break your concentration will hinder your performance on other tasks.

Doing a little bit of planning now while business is slow will do wonders for you when business starts to pick up again.  Get a jump-start and clean out all your bad habits before the New Year!


Best wishes for 2011,

Sean and Andy

Founders, HUMAN Healthy Vending

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How To Set New Year’s Resolutions That Actually Work

During the beginning of a new year, everyone likes to make resolutions for self-improvement.  Unfortunately, after a couple of weeks these resolutions are often forgotten and we tend to go back to what is easiest for us.

Why does this happen?

What patterns do you see?

Even though we have the knowledge and capability to improve ourselves, it is very difficult for the changes we want to make to stick.  It is possible for us to spend everyday creating new products, developing new ideas, helping others, and getting in great physical shape – but if these activities are not part of our daily routine we will have a hard time staying on track.

This happens because we are creatures of habit.  We have been this way for thousands of years and a couple hundred years of industrialization aren’t going to change us.  The human brain is pattern-seeking, and this ability has helped us become amazing survivalists.  We are able to recognize and learn from patterns, and use them in ways that enable us to continue functioning without expanding excessive mental energy.

Think About Your Commute

Have you ever driven home from work and pulled in to your driveway only to realize that you can’t remember any of the details of your drive home?  (I hope I am not the only one this happens to).

Next time you are planning on taking a solo drive that you repeat often, set a timer for 30 minutes after you expect to arrive.  When the timer rings, try to think about the specific details of your drive.  I bet you will have a difficult time remembering what you saw.  Even though we are driving safely, our brain is on autopilot.  While this is helpful most of the time, i.e. while driving, or doing laundry, it can hinder us when we are trying to build new healthy habits.

Start on the 1st and Continue

Successful New Year’s Resolutions

The key to making successful New Years resolutions is to realize that we are pattern seekers and creatures of habit, and if we want to change our ways we need to build our resolutions into routines.  Most research indicates that it takes about a month (that means 30 straight days) for our minds to recognize our repetitive behavior as a pattern.  And once we recognize it as a pattern, our body will start to adjust and the behavior will become a habit.

Whether it is quitting smoking, jogging in the morning, or eating breakfast; unless you do it for 30 days in a row there is a slim chance you will continue doing it (or not doing it) for the rest of year.

Think about how long you have had some of the bad habits you want to kick?

Months, years, decades…? If you want to give your healthy habits a chance, you need to make sure to continue doing them for at least one month.

Focus On The Most Important Thing

Instead of making a long list of New Year’s resolutions to start doing on January 1st, just pick one thing that you want to change about yourself and plan on doing it consistently for the next 30 days.  After 30 days, your new behavior should be pretty well ingrained into your routine, and it is now time to start your next resolution.

After 12 months, you should have 12 new healthy habits that will make your life a heck of a lot better!

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Filed Under: CRUSH IT REPORT, H.U.M.A.N. Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Child Nutrition Bill: What Does It Mean For Schools?

December 23, 2010 By 1 Comment

Obama

The Child Nutrition Bill and Our Schools

Now that Congress has passed the child nutrition bill and President Obama signed it in to law, schools across the country will start to determine how the new legislation impacts their own meal and vending programs.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act allows the Secretary of Agriculture to establish nutrition standards for foods sold in schools throughout the day, including items in vending machines.

As far as details go, the bill is a good start – but it is not enough to make groundbreaking changes in student nutrition.  For low-income students, the bill provides only 6 cents more per meal, and almost half of the $4.5 billion cost during the next decade is coming from cuts in the food-stamp program.

While it does not amount to a complete overhaul of the school lunch program, the child nutrition bill does include many significant improvements for student nutrition.  It increases the availability of school lunches by expanding the pool of low-income children eligible for the both free and reduced-price meals, while also stopping the federal government from subsidizing junk food and sugary drinks, whether they are sold in vending machines of from behind the counter.

Fruits and Veggies

The Importance of the Bill

The bill was passed just as the Journal of Adolescent Health released a report examining the impact of vending machine foods on 5,930 students at 152 schools. More than 80% of the schools surveyed had vending machines selling foods with minimal nutritional value, including chips, sodas and sweets.

In addition to these funding changes, the nutritional guidelines have been rewritten to include more fruits and vegetables, and less fat, salt, and starch.

School Grants

In response to the passing of the child nutrition bill, traditional vending machines in schools across the country are being replaced by healthy vending machines by HUMAN.  Progressive schools are replacing their machines before they are asked to comply to make sure they can take advantage of $10,000 in school grants provided by SPARK for replacing their junk food machines with with healthy vending machines.

Filed Under: ADVICE & EDUCATION, Health & Nutrition, VENDING INDUSTRY, Vending News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

HUMAN Featured on New TV Series “LunchNYC”

December 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Check us out! We were featured on the new health-conscious TV series “LunchNYC“.  “LunchNYC” premiered in October 2010 on NYC Life, which is a subsidiary of NYC Media, the official TV, radio and online network of NYC.

From the website:

“Throughout the 12-episode series “LunchNYC” will introduce viewers to a wide variety of health-conscious individuals, organizations, and events in New York City, and will provide information on how children and adults alike can eat and live healthily in NYC.

From urban farming to organic food carts, tips for quick stretches to which chocolate to choose, “LunchNYC” utilizes the resources of New York City to create a cross section picture of the great things happening in food and health reform in our city!”

We are honored to be have been featured and we look forward to continuing our growth in NYC, and the rest of the United States!

To watch the rest of the episode visit the NYC.gov website.

Filed Under: Company Happenings, H.U.M.A.N. Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

5 Reasons To Start A Vending Business

November 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Dreaming on the Job

This quirky video – Office Space meets The Office meets Joe Versus the Volcano all in 4 minutes – is a huge reason for starting a vending machine business.  You might not think vending machines provide the escape you’re looking for, but keep this video in mind and read to discover more reasons that it is.  (Aside: Joe Versus the Volcano is a 1990 Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks film that I watched after enjoying You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. Not on the same level. Very strange.)

1) Your Ideal Job is Out There

As a recent graduate with a degree in something I do not want to do, I have spent a lot of time lately looking for my ideal job. The elusive dream. I only have a few small requirements:

a) I want to do something meaningful. I want to work for the good of humanity and feel like my time is well spent. Forget flipping burgers or endless data entry — I want to make a difference. Life is too short to spend it on meaningless pursuits. I want to leave a legacy for future generations.

b) I want to do something profitable. I have a lot of skills. Sure, at the moment they seem to not be that marketable, but if Joe Techno down the road can get 35 dollars an hour, possessing the social prowess of an irritated donkey, I — a well-rounded, well-read, smart, social, motivated, working woman — should be able to find something that people will pay me well for.

c) I want to do something flexible. Let’s face it: there are a lot of jobs, even meaningful, profitable ones, that are soul-killing in their practice. Take being a surgeon, for example. Yes, you are saving people’s lives and making a ton of money. But that schedule!  You never see your family — if, that is, you found time somewhere between medical school and interning to start one.  Your social life revolves around the nurses’ station and patients’ paperwork. You are in surgery for hours and come out so brain-dead you might as well be the next one on the table, and you find you have 10 hours left of your shift.

No, thank you!  I want to see my family.  I want to spend time with friends.  I want a vacation once in a while.  I kind of want to travel to France.  Maybe Turkey. Is that too much to ask?  In America today, sometimes it seems like flexibility (or, what I call, “livability”) is no longer an option.  And then when you ask for all three together –meaningful, profitable, flexible — you might as well ask for the moon.

So when I found something that combined the three, I had to talk about. For all you idealists out there, don’t give up hope!  You’ll never believe what it is: vending machines.  I couldn’t believe it either, but stay tuned in. You can get into the healthy vending machine business and make our own schedule, make money, and make a difference. Vending in general is great, but if you really want to make a difference, health-food vending is the way to go in this day and age.

Why Vending?

It is very easy to start a vending business on your own. You don’t need any special degree; you just have to be a self-motivated individual, willing to learn, with a good dose of common sense. But you’ll find out exactly what you need after you get started. I’m here to ensure that you do.

2) Passive income

After you buy and stock a machine and put it in a great location, your machine is making money for you around the clock. Vending machines require very little attention, which means you can do other things with your time.  Whether you are putting in a 40-hour week, road-tripping with the girls, or getting stuff done around the house, you can be making extra money without even thinking about it. What could be better than that?  Whereas with most employment there’s a 1-to-1 trade-off, (work for pay, or, no work for no pay), passive income generates itself. It’s like an investment: Work up front and reap the benefits for a long time.

2) Flexible schedule

Here’s that livability thing I was talking about. Life happens, whether or not you are around for it.  But there are steps you can take to be around.  One such step is finding a job where you set your own schedule. Vending machines generate passive income, so that already allows you lots of able-to-be-absent time, but they also don’t have office hours. Of course, you have to work with the location, but within reason you can make your “rounds” whenever you want.  Technologically advanced machines help this process even more. With a computer and the Internet, you can remotely monitor stock levels, maintenance needs, and cash flow.  You may get to such a level of comfort that you never have to visit a machine after initial installation.

3) You’re the boss

Making your own schedule is only one benefit of being your own boss.  Think of the others.  No performance reviews.  No micromanaging or politicking.  No conforming to someone else’s vision or demands.  No making money for somebody else.  You work the way you want to achieve the result you’re looking for.  You take home the profit at the end of the day.  Of course, you’ll want to work with a vending franchise, but you aren’t working for them.  A good franchise can help you with location and item selection, machine technology and maintenance, and can offer continuing support.  I mean, you’re new and they’re professionals, so make use of their expertise.  With the Internet, learning from the pros is easy.  This clip gives you an introduction to “vending school.”

5) Healthy Vending Helps People Live Better lives

Now, as a pragmatist, vending makes sense.  But can you really feel good about it?  Before I learned about the healthy trends in the vending market, I would have said no.  Selling junk to people who don’t need it in places they can’t resist is not the way I want to make money.  That scenario is clearly less than ideal on a human level.

It's Not Halloween Everyday

Instead you can make money by providing healthy alternatives to people who need them in places that lack them.  Now doesn’t that sound better?  Downright altruistic.  And America needs some altruists working on their food. According to the Center for Disease Control, childhood obesity has tripled in the last 30 years.  In 2009, only Colorado and D.C. had a prevalence of obesity less than 20% of the population!  That’s outrageous!  Clearly, people don’t know how to eat the right amount of food for their bodies.  So what do food retailers do?  Make addictive, chemical-filled, calorie-chocked, highly marketed food completely devoid of nutritional value and sell it to us to make ridiculous profits.  That’s unconscionable.

You Don't Always Want or Have Time for This

You can be a part of changing that.  In fact, if you’re getting into the vending industry, you should be a part of it if you’re savvy.  Traditional vending is on its way out.  People are starting to monitor what they’re putting into their bodies, and they’re starting to want it to be something that will benefit them long-term instead of just gratify them in the moment.  Of course, if some little snack could do both, that would be even better.

Bright entrepreneurs are catching on. When bottled water sales started growing by leaps and bounds, thinkers put on their caps and thought: “Perhaps people are looking for something healthier among the sodas and Snickers bars in that machine.  What if everything in that machine were healthy?” Others, like Sean Kelly, founder of one up-and-coming vending movement, saw devout exercisers on the treadmill with a Coke at the gym and thought: “If we don’t have healthy items accessible, how can we expect anyone to get healthier?”

Kelly’s company, H.U.M.A.N., is doing the product research and technological innovation you would not know how to do and ensuring that your healthy vending machines are glitch-free.  They find what products sell – some even interview people at the location of the machine to find what kinds of snacks they prefer – and are making top-of-the-line machines with features like LCD displays, cashless payment options, and infrared vend sensors to ensure that you are making the most efficient profit you can.

So, if you missed the 5 reasons, here’s the quick recap:

1) You don’t want to be in a cubicle

2) Vending creates passive income

3) The schedule’s flexible

4) You’re your own boss

5) Healthy vending helps people live better lives

Now get started. Find a company with a conscience, and the technology to back it up, and start your dream job today.

Who knew that vending could be so interesting?

Recommended Resources

Ready to go?  Become a partner operator with H.U.M.A.N.: http://www.healthyvending.com/contactus/operators

Filed Under: HEALTHY VENDING, The Bigger Picture Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Media Mogul

November 19, 2010 By 2 Comments


The Media Mogul boasts a robust 23″ HD Video Screen designed to attract attention, display product information and nutrition advice,  and video ads.  Helping you line your pockets with advertising revenue, effortlessly.

The internal PC computer keeps your machine on the cutting edge by seamlessly integrating the latest software updates with the machine’s remote monitoring system, and credit card reader. Them Media Mogul’s Eco-friendly design uses 50% less energy than standard vending machines, and it’s strategically-placed infrared sensors refuse to allow misvends and vending errors.

The increased versatility allowed by the conveyor belt dispensing technology, and the larger capacity allows you to stock 40% more of our over 5,000 options.

Filed Under: All Machines, MACHINES, Snack & Drink: Inside Tagged With: , , , ,

Healthy Hot Food and Snack Machine

November 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The best tasting veding food you will find

Hot and Delicious

This refrigerated food and snack machine serve delicious HOT meals, as well as snacks. Great for any location that needs nutritious meals on-the-go.

Filed Under: All Machines, Hot Meals, MACHINES Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Apprentice

November 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The Apprentice

Technology and Reliability, The Apprentice

The Apprentice features all the capabilities of the Media Mogul, without the LCD screen.

The internal PC computer keeps your machine on the cutting edge by seamlessly integrating the latest software updates with the machine’s remote monitoring system, and credit card reader. The Apprentice’s Eco-friendly design uses 50% less energy than standard vending machines, and it’s strategically-placed infrared sensors refuse to allow misvends and vending errors.

The increased versatility allowed by the conveyor belt dispensing technology, and the larger capacity allows you to stock 40% more of our over 5,000 options.

Filed Under: All Machines, MACHINES, Snack & Drink: Inside Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Crush It Report – Volume 4

November 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Mmmmmm That Value Smells Good!

Give and You Shall Receive

Last week I talked about the importance of Providing Value.  At HUMAN we voraciously believe nothing is more important than this in life…nothing!   In fact, “crushing it” is really just about being a massive value provider.  They’re one and the same.

Who are some examples of value-providers?

Great question.  Everyone knows value-providers because either they or their product is fantastic, and they’re in the public eye.  However, that doesn’t mean that in order to be a massive value-provider you have to be famous!  It’s quite the contrary.

iPAD and iPhone!

Apple

This is an example with which everyone is familiar.   Rarely will you find someone who buys a product from Apple – many times for a good chunk of money – that says it wasn’t worth the money.  Sure, people might complain about the horrible service of the iPhone, but that’s more of an AT&T problem, not an Apple problem.   In fact, people feel that the iPhone provides so much value, that they buy the product in droves despite the terrible service.

That says something about Apple.

They provide products that people are more than happy to pay good money for because in the end the customer feels they get more from the product then they put in (or in this case spend).  I certainly can’t say the same for AT&T though…they’re a value-sucker!  Or am I just a sucker for having an iPhone? Anyway….

My Cleaning Lady

None of you know her.  But she is phenomenal.  She always shows-up to my house happy, is a joy to be around, and equally as important, does a phenomenal job cleaning my place.  In a world of rip-offs, underachievers, and semi or complete scams, this is refreshing.  She takes pride in her work and kicks butt every single time.   She “crushes it” when it comes to cleaning.   I pay her between $80 to $100 each time she cleans and would gladly pay more.   She gives me more value than it costs me to get that value.   She’s just as much, possibly more so, of a value-provider in my life as Apple.

Mentor Bob

I have many mentors in my life (I think few things are more important than mentors when it comes to creating an ideal “crushing it” atmosphere around yourself).   One of these mentors is a guy named Bob.  Beyond being a blast to speak with and being one of the most hilarious guys I know (thus providing value by making me laugh and feel good every time I talk with him), he’s reliable and truly looks out for my best interest.  Sure, as a result of this I’ll always think of him first if something comes up that could help him (i.e. client referrals), but that’s not why he helps me.

He’s simply a guy who is used to giving all the value he can and because of it leads a very fulfilled life.

The Pen is Smart!

LiveScribe

If you don’t know this company check it out.  They have the coolest $150 pens in the world that most people would gladly pay 5-10x for once you see how cool and helpful they can be. Total value-provider. www.LiveScribe.com

As human beings, we have many traits that are incredibly difficult to escape.

Some of these traits are to our advantage and some are to our disadvantage. One of these traits that’s to our advantage is the inherent desire to repay people for what they’ve done for us.

Why do we feel this way…? And why does providing value work?

Check back next week for the answer to these questions, as well as tips for putting yourself in a value-producing mindset.  Have an amazing rest of the week!

Best in health,

Sean & Andy,

Founders, HUMAN Healthy Vending

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Green Hands!

Get Caught GREEN Handed!

Everybody is going to win. And that means YOU.

THAT IS IF you get caught GREEN HANDED!

This week marks our first ever Green Hand Giveaway!

Yesss…But what does that mean?

It means that once a month from now on, we will be giving away some awesome swag to our readers.

And all YOU have to do send  a picture of you, your friend, or you and your friends, with Green Hands.

It doesn’t matter how you do it, whether your hands are covered in paint, marker, frosting, gloves, guacamole, Alien blood,…etc.

The most creative, best entry will win. (P.S. Alien blood will definitely win).

Awesome Stuff

But what do we win?

We have partnered with our friends at HARD Nutrition to give you exclusive access to the Newest, All-Natural Nutritional Drinks on the market…FOR ABSOLUTELY FREE.  Think Vitamin Water with actual vitamins and enzymes.

The Functional Water System is designed for anyone who wants to “crush it” at the next level, whether it is in the gym with WIN, at work with WIDE AWAKE, or in the evening after a long day with FIX IT.

First Prize: Wins the COMPLETE Functional Water System from HARD Nutrition PLUS an awesome cooler that you can take with you to the beach, or the ski-slopes (worth over $60!) or a HUMAN T-shirt.

Boom Boom All-Natural Energizing Inhaler

Second Prize: Wins either the Complete System or a HUMAN T-shirt (depending on what first place chooses).

All entries will win a free Boom Boom Energy Inhaler to help you crush it.

Boom Boom is an awesome all-natural energy booster that can help you get your focus back during long days, drives, or late-nights.

Alright, I want this stuff!  How do I enter?

It is very easy, all we need is three things from you:

Send pictures of you and your friends with GREEN HANDS, along with your full name and mailing address to:

crushitreport@healthyvending.com

DEADLINE IS NOVEMBER 23rd, 2010

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How To Turn Your “Dud” Vending Location

In To A “Stud” Location: Part 4

This is your last week, of “Dud” to “Stud”!  If you follow this plan, your vending machines will be cranking.  Please let us know if any of you have followed this program, we want to hear results!

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Send Tips, Comments, Suggestions, or Jokes to crushitreport@healthyvending.com

Filed Under: CRUSH IT REPORT, H.U.M.A.N. Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

New School Vending Machines Give Lessons In The Lunchroom

November 11, 2010 By 2 Comments
School Globe

Nutrition is JUST as Important as Geography

Our Educational System Is Failing

Science, math, history, reading…some of the main subjects our kids are taught everyday at school. It’s important for them to learn the multiplication tables, the order of the planets and how to conjugate a verb. But there is one subject that takes a back seat in schools much to the detriment of our kids – health. Teaching kids how to get healthy and stay healthy is extremely important but today’s obesity statistics reveal the awful truth that this subject is grossly neglected both in school and at home. Nearly 30% of America’s kids are obese! Childhood obesity leads to diabetes, heart disease and a poor quality of life. So what can we do in our schools and in our homes to teach kids the valuable lessons they need to learn in order to have a happy, healthy life? New school vending machines are an important step forward in this battle against the bulge.

How Important is Nutritional Education?

Diet and physical inactivity is the leading cause of premature death in the US. It tops tobacco, alcohol and drug use and is responsible for over 300,000 deaths a year. Lack of nutritional education is literally killing Americans. And because unhealthy kids grow up to be unhealthy adults, we need to focus our efforts on school-aged children to get this crucial message across. The American diet is too high in saturated fat, sodium and sugar which leads to some major health issues such as heart disease, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, stroke and many cancers. Teaching prevention also saves a ton of money. The total yearly cost (direct and indirect) of diseases associated with diet and inactivity is a whopping $617 billion! The USDA estimates that if Americans ate healthier diets, it would save about $71 billion in medical costs, lost productivity and deaths. All we need to do is make our kids aware of the connection between what they put in their mouths and their long-term health. Sounds simple, right? It should be but unfortunately neglect of this important prevention message goes all the way to the top.

It’s Not Enough

The US government does have programs aimed at educating the American public about the importance of eating healthy and getting enough exercise. But when they have to compete with junk food giants, they fall short. For example,the largest nutritional education program the federal government has – the 5 A Day Program – has a budget of $3.6 million a year. $68 million is spent by Mars to advertise candy (that’s 68% more than the government’s budget) and McDonald’s spends $1 billion on advertising (1,000% more). Since people are greatly influenced by advertising and promotions, it’s no wonder they react more favorably to the higher-budgeted campaigns. The food industry as a whole (which is largely unhealthy food items) spends $25 billion on advertising. Compare this to the funding allocated to the CDC’s Division of Nutritional and Physical Activity which is a mere $45 million. And even within the government programs, the numbers are slanted. The CDC spends over twice as much on anti-tobacco campaigns than they do on their educational programs when in fact, tobacco kills about the same number of people as does poor diet and inactivity! These numbers prove that we cannot rely on government programs to educate our kids as to the importance of a healthy diet and active lifestyle.

PE Classes Are Being Cut

Even our schools are failing in the most basic nutritional education areas. More and more schools are cutting physical education (PE) classes and health classes. Most states don’t have a minimum requirement for daily physical education in schools. The American Heart Association is working with schools to promote guidelines of 150 minutes a week for elementary school kids and 225 minutes a week for middle schoolers. The reason schools are cutting these programs is simple.

They don’t have the funds to support them. When schools need to cut back on teacher salaries and classroom facilities, usually health teachers, health classes and gym activities are first to go. More emphasis is placed on math, science and English due to federal requirements for test scores (federal funds are linked to adequate test scores). Those subjects are important but we’re cheating our kids out of a full education. And it’s making them fat. Kids actually perform better in the classroom if they are physically fit and if they don’t get the opportunity for physical activity at school, they likely won’t make up for it after school. More than 60% of kids ages 9-13 do not participate an any organized physical activity during non-school hours. It’s vital that they get this exercise during the school day. Not only does it get their blood moving and help them burn off some fat, it will instill healthy habits that will last a lifetime.

Lessons From a Machine?

It’s not the school’s fault if their budget can’t support every program it once could. It is their responsibility, however, to find a way to educate students in all areas, even if classes can’t be scheduled. One way schools can revolutionize the teaching process is with a new vending machine. Yes, a machine can teach your students! Don’t worry, math and science teachers, your jobs are safe. What we’re talking about here is a vending machine that only sells healthy foods and drinks. Replacing old junk food machines with these healthy vending machines will expose kids to a variety of nutritious snacks that they likely didn’t know existed. Teaching kids that healthy food can also be tasty and satisfying could be the first step in changing their eating habits all day long. No longer will they have the sugar rush and crash that makes it hard for them to concentrate and learn. If they bring home a bag of trail mix, their parents will see it and it could start an entire conversation about healthy foods and the importance of nutrition. Parents might even sample some of these foods and then buy them in larger sizes next time they go to the supermarket. Aside from the tasty nutritious items the healthy vending machines offer, the high-tech LCD screens on each machine give schools a new way to educate students. Just about every kid loves watching TV and they will stop and watch if something entertaining is happening on the vending machine screen. This opens up a huge opportunity for schools to place information on these screens that will speak to a very captive audience. The possibilities are endless for what can be done on LCD screens but here are a few ideas.

Teach With Cartoons

Younger kids will respond to a cartoon-like explanation of where food comes from. If they select a bag of baby carrots, the screen could display the “story” of how the carrot started from a seed, rain made it grow, it was picked and packaged and now is being dispensed for them to enjoy. These vignettes can have sound effects like rain and wind), narration, music and text to cover all learning styles. Having a different “story” for each item in the machine prompts students to pick a different item each time to get a new story.

Carrots

Tasty and Fresh

Eat Local and Encourage Involvement

If you allocate a certain percentage of your machine items to locally grown and produced snacks, not only will you save a ton of money on distribution and shipping, but you have a great chance to teach kids about the food they’re eating. The LCD screen can describe the farm where the produce was grown or if your school has a garden, you can stock your own produce and explain to the kids that the food is coming right from their very own school. Encourage them to get involved in community gardens or start one of their own. Explain the economics of using locally grown produce and snacks and how it benefits the community financially.

Educate On The Machine

Nutritional information about the food in the healthy vending machine can also be displayed. This type of information is good for older students who understand the concepts of calories, saturated fats and sugars. Compare the nutritional information of a granola bar to a candy bar and your students will quickly see the benefits of the healthy items. Include information about drinks too. Most kids don’t realize how many chemicals they’re consuming with a single can of soda. A short lesson on calories will answer questions about why fruit juices are not low-cal but they are still healthy alternatives to soft drinks.

Technology Gives Us Endless Opportunities

Nutritional Facts

Providing Nutritional Facts Matters

There are plenty of opportunities for parents and schools to teach children about the importance of healthy eating apart from PE and health classes. With continued budget cuts and junk food advertisements bombarding our kids everyday, it’s crucial that we offer this type of education both in the classroom as well as out of the classroom. Kids’ eating habits start very young and without the proper lessons, they will continue to choose unhealthy foods that will eventually make them fat and give them horrible health problems. Putting healthy vending machines in schools is a great first step to getting kids on track with what they eat. Using the LCD technology to explain where food comes from, what’s in food and how it can help their bodies stay fit, as well as help them learn, will give them an excellent foundation when they start to make more of their own decisions later in life. Lessons are all around us; we just need to choose to teach them.

Filed Under: H.U.M.A.N., HEALTHY VENDING, Healthy Vending Machines, The Bigger Picture Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Crush It Report – Volume II

November 3, 2010 By 2 Comments

Note From the Founders

The Starting Point of All Achievement: BURNING DESIRE

Ah yes…

Can you smell it?

You know, the smell of BURNING DESIRE?

Burning desire is the quintessential, required ingredient every successful entrepreneur MUST have before anything else.

It’s the “thing” that gets you out of bed in the morning, excited to start your day, and fully prepared to “Crush It.” And you know we’re all about “Crushing It” here at HUMAN Healthy Vending ;-)

human healthy vending team

Members of HUMAN Healthy Vending have a burning desire to end obesity...and take goofy pictures on forklifts


So, what is BURNING DESIRE and how do you get it?

Well, Napoleon Hill, maker of millionaires, confidante of presidents, and author of the book Think & Grow Rich, says that a burning desire is the first step toward riches.

Having a burning desire is choosing a definite goal and placing all your energy, willpower, and effort into achieving that goal. Every person who wins in any undertaking in life must be willing to burn his or her ships and cut all sources of retreat. That is the only way you can be sure of maintaining the state of mind known as a burning desire to win. It is essential to success.

Since Napoleon Hill interviewed THOUSANDS of leaders, successful businesspeople, and head’s of state, and since he spent over 20 years of his life compiling the results of these interviews and boiling them down to 16 laws of success, we at HUMAN tend to listen to what he has to say.

At HUMAN Healthy Vending, our BURNING DESIRE is to conquer obesity and obesity-related illnesses (which cost the US healthcare system an extra $147 BILLION per year) by providing fresh healthy vending options for everyone. What gets us jumping out of bed every morning is the burning desire to help 1,000 people get started with their own healthy vending business and to positively affect the eating habits of 100 million people worldwide. Yes, it’s a lofty goal, but one that is completely attainable. And having a burning desire is step #1 in accomplishing our goal.

These kids have a “burning desire” to eat some tasty, healthy snacks!

So, what’s your burning desire? What are you passionate about? What goal will have you jumping out of bed every morning, ready to conquer the day?

Do some introspection and think about it!

If you’re passionate about health and fitness, or helping fight the massive obesity epidemic, or simply being an entrepreneur and running your own business, channel that passion into your well-defined BURNING DESIRE.

Then take action.

…and who knows, maybe becoming a HUMAN Healthy Vending Partner is the right vehicle to manifest this burning desire into your lofty, yet attainable goal.

Talk to you next week!

Sean & Andy

Founders, HUMAN Healthy Vending

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Crush It Quote of the Week:

“If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you.  If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you.  Whatever good things we build end up building us.”

~Jim Rohn

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Why this quote is important

Very few things that have ever been said, ring truer than this quote. Your goals will take you where you want to go, and your plans will show you how to get there. Jim Rohn is remembered as an American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker, but what many people don’t know is that at age 25, he had dropped out of college and was making $57 a week as a stock clerk for Sears.  It wasn’t until he attended a lecture by entrepreneur John Earl Shoaff, that he decided to change his life.  John Earl Shoaff challenged Jim to set the goal of making one million dollars.   In just six years, he made his first million dollars (this was in the early 60′s, when being a millionaire was still almost unheard of).  If anyone knows about the power of setting goals and crushing them to fruition, it is Jim Rohn. Does this quote sound familiar?  It should, because versions of this quote have been around since ancient Greece. Maybe this one will ring a bell.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” ~Aristotle

Part one of a video where Jim shows you how to “Have Your Best Year Ever” -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don’t Let Your Competition Eat You Alive:

Become an Internet Marketing All-Star Today

CLICK HERE

StopIf you’re in business today and do not know how to effectively market online, your competition will eat you alive.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually it’s going to happen. The field of Internet Marketing isn’t black magic. It’s not stuff that only your 16 year old engineering whiz kid can learn.   It’s simply the way business – especially entrepreneurial business – is done today. Start your path to making money online and growing your business massively by attending this 100% free internet marketing webinar, which will feature HUMAN Co-Founders Andy Mackensen & Sean Kelly.   The event is LIVE and only offered once, and like I mentioned above, it’s FREE. So get after it!

To Sign-Up for this Free Live Webinar CLICK HERE.

Infuzy, the company behind this live internet marketing webinar knows how to CRUSH IT online big time.  We know – HUMAN’s learned a lot from these guys.

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Entrepreneurship Tip of the Week

Following our theme of goal setting, watch this quick video and do your homework. Write down your goals and pick just one of them to crush. Brian Tracy knows success and sales better than just about anyone, so take notes!

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Mind Bending Video of the Week

Sales is everything in business, and all sales are driven by marketing.  Marketing is designed to convince consumers that a product is valuable enough for purchase, but what is value?  Take a second to think about this question.  In Lessons From an Ad Man, Rory Sutherland makes the assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider “real” value.   His speech is fascinating, pointed, and clever.  Think about how you can use Rory’s ideas to change your mindset and take your business to the next level.

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How To Turn Your “Dud” Vending Location

In To A “Stud” Location: Part 2

We want your machines to be sucking down healthy snacks, and coughing up dollar bills! Get your notebooks out and write this stuff down, because you can use these tips, and should use these tips, right now. In this Crush It Report we will cover weeks 2 to 4 of the Optimization Guide regarding “How to Turn a Dud Location into a Stud Location.”  And FYI, this applies to more than just vending!  Here we will be focusing on optimizing your product mix, and planning your first promotional event. Yeah baby! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tips, Comments, Suggestions, or Jokes send them to crushitreport@healthyvending.com

Filed Under: ADVICE & EDUCATION, CRUSH IT REPORT, Entrepreneurship Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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